Prelude to Nightmare
by Pikkufantti
Summary: AU. Naruto is an Uchiha. Follows Naruto and Sasuke and their new teammate, Eiji, in their journey to the top of the ninja world. When they finally get the chance to achieve their goals, war looms over the horizon...


Author's Note: This is an AU (Alternate universe) fic! Although the storyline will follow canon initially, I'm not sure when I'll diverge from it. I'll warn you right off the bat that I won't do the wave mission, I always thought that story arc was boring (even though Zabuza was a cool character, I didn't really like Haku who seems to be one of the favorites here is shot). But I thought I'd clear up a few things before the actual story:

Naruto is the son of Uchiha Minato and his wife, Uchiha Kushina who is the sister of Uchiha Fugaku. Because of Minato's incredible mastery of wind jutsus, he was originally given the nickname "Namikaze" and then, after developing the Hiraishin no jutsu, the title of "Yellow Flash".

Both Naruto's parents are dead in this story, and he has lived with his aunt and uncle for all of his life.

Sasuke and Naruto are both very off character in this story. Mainly because the uchiha massacre never happened and Itachi is a kind brother to Sasuke and Naruto, who is basically a brother to the two.

This story contains manga spoilers! If you watch the anime, or haven't read the latest manga in a while, some things in this story directly spoil some surprises to come. You have been warned.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! Masashi Kishimoto does. Anything I use from the manga is created and owned by Kishimoto. I do sort of own the OCs I create, but I don't really care if someone uses them.

That said…

**Begin Chapter**

**After the Kyuubi attack:**

"Our Fourth Hokage, Uchiha Minato, is dead" Fugaku, head of the Uchiha clan, announced to the population of Konoha just hours after the attack.

"However," he continued, "his legacy shall live on. His will of fire will burn brightly within all of Konoha's inhabitants as long as we remember the great man he was, and as long as his memory will live on he did not die in vain. He is survived by his son, whose mother perished in the attack, bless her soul, who should not be viewed as a monster; he is a hero who will keep the nine-tails contained"

There were various murmurs and angry scowls in the crowd.

"We don't care if he's your nephew!" One drunk yelled furiously. "Kill the demon spawn!"

"What are you, an idiot? He is an Uchiha! Given the right training he is going to become Konoha's deadliest weapon!" Another citizen screamed angrily.

"I fail to see how a little child could be treated like this" Another murmured, but went unheard.

"_So that he's the Hokage's son does not change his treatment at all?"_ An old man thought as he watched the crowd silently. Sarutobi Hayashimaru sighed and trudged over to Fugaku.

"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you…" He said quietly.

"…Yes, I did" Fugaku told the old Hokage. "But it had to be done. The clan will protect Naruto… I will raise him with Hanako…"

The Third left Fugaku alone to his musings and stood facing the people of Konoha.

"I will retake the seat of Hokage until a suitable follower is found" He announced, causing the crowd to go silent.

"Furthermore, Naruto's father's last wish was for his son to be seen as a normal citizen, a hero who keeps the fox at bay. I see that is not going to happen. I understand that you are angry and sad. Losing our loved ones is never an easy task."

The Hokage spoke with such authority that none dared to speak.

"I will instate a law, starting today. None of you will speak of Naruto containing the Nine-Tails to your children. If anything, your children should decide if Naruto is suitable company or not. Any who breaks this law will be executed on the spot."

"The Fourth Hokage reformed so much of this village's ruling system. It is because of him that the lesser clans are even allowed on the council. May I remind you all that before his time, only Senju and Uchiha were allowed to sit on the ruling council of the village?"

"The Fourth and I have been too easy on you all. Starting now, only Shinobi members of the council will be able to vote on matters which directly concern the way Konoha utilizes its Shinobi."

And without another word, Sarutobi Hayashi left.

"If Konoha is to survive, the power to decide on Shinobi matters must return to Shinobi, and those Civilians who have been given the right to attend council meetings must not decide on wars or anything" Fugaku told the crowd before he took Naruto and left, without sparing another glance to the population.

**Now, 12 years later…**

"Wake up, dobe!"

"Go away, Sasuke"

"Today's graduation day, don't tell me you forgot"

"Huh?"

"…Great. Just get dressed and let's go."

Naruto grumbled as Sasuke left the room. Quickly putting on his black overalls with the Uchiha crest on the back (he would have wanted orange ones but his cousin, Itachi, had told him that it would be the same as committing suicide and had threatened to burn them if Naruto used orange clothes), he dashed to the kitchen to eat his aunt's delicious cooking, and, saying his goodbyes, left with Sasuke to the ninja academy.

"So who do you think is going to be put on our team?" Naruto asked Sasuke as they walked.

"I asked Itachi about it, but he only said we might not even be put in the same team."

"Oh, man, that would suck!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke sweat dropped at his cousin's antics.

The rest of the walk was in silence, much to Naruto's chagrin.

The two Uchihas got to the academy, and without sparing a glance to the rest of the class Sasuke took a seat. Naruto greeted his present friends and took a seat next to Sasuke.

"Hah! I won! Take that, Ino-pig!" A screech was heard from the door. Naruto and Sasuke sweat dropped and sighed in unison. "_Not her_", thought Sasuke and laid his head on the table. "_Anyone but them_"

"Ahem" Naruto was broken out of his thoughts as he looked up. A pink haired girl was tapping her foot impatiently.

"Go away from my seat next to Sasuke-kun" She said.

"I was here first" Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders as he, too, laid his head on the table.

"NARUTO! Go away now or I-" Sakura began to shout but was cut short.

"Eh, you are going to do what?" Naruto stated while fixing a cold glare at Sakura. Sakura suddenly became ghostly pale and moved to sit with Ino, who surprisingly didn't say anything. What Sakura didn't know was that Ino had seen the look Naruto gave Sakura, and had decided to stay quiet because of it.

"Hah, that Naruto, always so troublesome" Muttered Shikamaru quietly. "Then again, he wouldn't be Naruto if he wasn't so troublesome."

The students chattered with each other for a while before Iruka, their teacher, began to speak.

"First of all, I must say how proud I am of you all" Iruka beamed at the class. "You are now ready to begin your career as shinobi. But do not think that it will be easy! In fact, you will face perilous challenges and are expected to even give your life for the good of our village. But such is the life of a shinobi, and there is no greater joy than serving our Hokage!"

The class cheered, making Iruka chuckle. "_I don't think they took me seriously_" He thought smiling.

The class quieted again as Iruka took a list.

"I will now announce your teams, and who will be your jounin sensei."

The anticipation in the room was such that the tension could be cut with a knife.

"Team one: Uchiha Naruto, Senju Eiji, Uchiha Sasuke. Your jounin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi"

"Wait, what is this! Why did you put me on the same team with those two snot-nosed brats" Eiji shouted from his seat on the back of the classroom.

"Traditionally, we pair the best and worst performing student in the class with a mediocre performing student. Sasuke was the rookie of the year, while you were dead-last."

"What are you saying? No way I'm dead-last! That would be whisker face over there!"

"Hey! Don't bring my birthmarks into this!" Naruto shouted at Eiji.

"Silence!" Iruka roared before their bickering would escalate. Naruto and Eiji hated each other's guts and it was well-known within the academy as a whole even though most students just hung out with children in their own class.

"While it's true that Naruto hasn't received the best scores in written exams, his practical performance is superb. Thus, in terms of overall scoring, he is in the middle of the class."

Eiji grumbled and kicked back.

"Just because his clan was massacred doesn't mean he can be a bastard" Naruto snarled, while Sasuke nodded. What had happened to the Senju clan was tragic, as it was known as strongest of the three great Shinobi clans (Senju, Uchiha and Hyuuga). Senju Daichi's son, Hachi, had murdered the rest of the clan, leaving only his little brother alive. Naruto and Sasuke were, however, steadfast in their opinion that Eiji's behaviour was stupid.

"If it was me I would be working to avenge my clan, not trash-talking everyone who happens to be stronger than me" Sasuke said. Naruto nodded before sighing.

"Team eight: Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba. Your jounin sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai."

"Team ten: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji. Your jounin sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma."

"Team twelve: Haruno Sakura, Shibuya Hideo, Mori Kiyoshi"

Naruto didn't even know who the last two were.

"Thank you. Now wait while you're teachers will collect you."

Time seemed to pass slowly as the teams left the building with their senseis. Only team one remained, after two hours had passed.

"Argh, I'm sick of this!" Naruto announced and placed a chalkboard eraser on top of the door to the class.

"What the hell are you doing, stupid? Do you really think our sensei will fall for such an old trick?" Eiji yelled.

"As much as I hate to, he's right, Naruto" Sasuke said with a sigh.

Before Naruto was able to say anything, the door opened and a gray-haired man wearing a jounin vest with his hitai-ate covering his other eye stepped in the room and had the chalkboard eraser fall right in his face.

"All right, my first impression of you all is…" Kakashi paused for dramatic effet.

"…I hate you." Naruto, Sasuke and Eiji sweat dropped, while Kakashi continued to speak.

"Meet me on the roof." He said before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Team One sighed and trudged to the roof, where they found Kakashi waiting.

"All right, we'll start by introducing ourselves to our teammates. Tell me of your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, or the like. Whatever comes to mind, really."

"Hey, Cyclopes, why don't you start so we can get an idea of what to do? I mean, I don't need help, but Whiskers and Broody sure need some pointers!"

"_It's you who needs help_" The rest of team one thought silently.

"Fine, then. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I am a Jounin of the Hidden Leaf Village. I like some things and dislike other things. My dreams for the future… well, I have some hobbies."

"What the fuck! All we learned was your name!" Eiji shouted angrily, but was silenced by Kakashi.

"Your turn next, pipsqueak" Kakashi stated.

Senju Eiji was a short boy (still taller than Naruto) with piercing brown eyes. He wasn't that well built, and Kakashi quickly noted that most of his muscle was in his legs. "_So, a speed type_." He thought.

"Well, my name is Senju Eiji. I like walking in the forest. I dislike Whiskers here! My dreams for the future… I guess I want the Senju name not to die out, to make my ancestors proud of me in the afterlife."

"Well, what an interesting guy." Kakashi thought aloud, causing Eiji to fume. That's all he had to say of his dream?

"Well, Whiskers, you're next." Naruto scoffed at the nickname, but complied.

"My name is Uchiha Naruto. I have some likes like ramen. I have many dislikes, like people who judge others based on what they hear, without even knowing that person. My dream for the future is to become Hokage like my dad and protect the village I love with my life."

"_He's so much like his father it's scary_" Kakashi thought before telling Broody to go next. Sasuke scowled but complied.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have some likes and many dislikes. My dream is to succeed my father as the head of the Uchiha Clan and lead it to prosper as Konoha's strongest ally"

"_This guy could become an avenger should he be given any reason to. I must keep an eye on him_" Kakashi thought.

"We have a rather interesting team here, if I say so myself" Kakashi said cheerily. "But do not delude yourselves into thinking that you are ninja already, for you will be taking a test tomorrow to see if you really have what it takes"

"Didn't we already take the Genin exam?" Eiji asked.

"That exam was just to see who could become a genin. The test you take tomorrow has a 66,6 failure rate. That's right, of the 30 or so students who passed only nine will become Genin on average. Of course there are exceptional years with many more with potential. Oh, and don't eat, you'll just throw up. Show up at training ground twelve at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. That's it, bye!"

And with that, Kakashi jumped off the roof.

Next morning, training ground 12, 10:00

Team one was waiting for Kakashi to show up, which he did eventually.

"Sorry I'm late. I got lost on the road of life." He said.

"LIAR!" Naruto and Eiji screamed loudly, making Kakashi cringe.

"All right, for your test, you have to take these bells from me. Those who don't get a bell get tied to a tree stump while the rest eat. Those who get tied also get sent back from the academy. To get these bells from me you have to come at me with the intent to kill. Okay, bell test, start!" Kakashi said. The three genin hopefuls jumped at the bushes.

"So, Sasuke, got any ideas?" Naruto whispered as they hid in the bushes.

"I get the feeling that this is a team exercise. Remember what my brother told us? That Konoha genins get put on teams of 3 and always teams of 3?"

"Oh yeah, I remember now. But how can we work together with Eiji?"

"We won't know until we try."

So the two started looking for Eiji, but found only his head sticking from the ground.

"Hahahaha, what the hell did you do, try to take him on yourself? Get real, this is a Jounin, do you think you can fight him evenly?" Naruto laughed at Eiji's predicament.

"Shut up, Whiskers, and get me up from here!" Eiji screamed. Naruto and Sasuke, still snickering, dug Eiji up from the ground and the three sat.

"Okay, I know we don't really like each other, but it appears we must work together to get those bells. Naruto, Eiji, shut up and just do it. Naruto, you remember that Itachi always told us our greatest strength was that we worked together."

Eiji's eyebrows rose slightly. Apparently these two were not so coddled as he had thought. Nah, they were just fooling him. They had to.

"Fine", Eiji said. "I know what we can do. You have some fire jutsus, right? I can use a wood-element jutsu, and if Kakashi tries to block it, you two use a fire jutsu on the branch, and when he evades we'll try to get the balls"

Naruto and Sasuke had to give Eiji some credit, as the plan was plausible. It was a long shot, but it wasn't like they had much time. Kakashi had stated that they had until noon, and they had been planning for half an hour already, if you include the time it took for Naruto and Sasuke to find Eiji. They quickly set to work, with Naruto as the distraction. Naruto jumped down from a tree branch to engage Kakashi.

"So it appears you're quite the hothead too, eh? Oh well. Let's get into it, then. First lesson: Taijutsu!" Kakashi said before reaching into his pocket. Naruto narrowed his eyes, but all Kakashi did was take a book.

"Why would you take a book to a shinobi battle?" Naruto cried, a little offended that Kakashi didn't consider him even worth fighting. Then again, Naruto thought, I'm just a genin and this is a jounin.

"Why, you ask? Because I want to know what happens next, of course."

Naruto growled before attacking. He threw a kick a Kakashi, which was effortlessly blocked. Naruto continued to attack, while Kakashi either blocked or dodged but never fought back. "I'm much too slow, aren't I" Naruto asked quietly as he continued his assault.

"That's true" Kakashi said, his visible eye curving into an upside-down "v". Naruto growled. "Okay, that's it." He quickly began to go through a series of hand seals, making Kakashi's eye widen in realization.

"Katon: Goukakyouu no jutsu!" Naruto yelled, breathing out a huge fireball aimed straight at Kakashi, who then seemed to vanish right into thin air.

"Kawarimi" Said Naruto.

"_What is with these guys, that jutsu is high chuunin level!_" Kakashi thought, before noticing Eiji on a tree branch. Kakashi's eye widened again as he saw Eiji go through an unknown set of hand seals, which was rather shocking because Kakashi thought he knew all jutsus in Konoha.

"Mokuton: Shibu Dangan!"

At once, Kakashi noticed a tree branch behind Eiji detach itself from a tree, catapulting itself at Kakashi at a fast speed. However, Kakashi then heard Sasuke's voice nearby:

"Katon: Hosenka!"

Sasuke shot four small fireballs from his mouth, two of them lighting the branch in flames, and two of them aiming at Kakashi.

"Right. Let's see them deal with this!" Kakashi said and went through a series of hand seals at lightning-fast speed, surprising the three genin hopefuls

"Doton: Doryuuheki!" A great wall of mud rose to block both Sasuke and Eiji's attacks, and Kakashi then turned around and did another jutsu.

"Raiton: Chuubu Shougeki!" Kakashi hit Naruto, who was charging from behind him, squarely in the stomach and caused the boy to immediately fall to the ground, motionless.

"You'll be like that for a few minutes" Kakashi said cheerily. "In a real fight, it's enough for your enemy to disarm you, break your arms and legs and take you for interrogation, or even kill you outright. Never bring your guard down even if you think your enemy is occupied."

Naruto would have scowled, but found himself unable to move, for whenever he tried, electric shocks would zap him all over his body.

Eiji and Sasuke just stood there, shocked. Kakashi sighed. "I could have easily dodged your attack, but chose to instead show you what a real shinobi can do in that situation. You are just a group of genin with no real training, and I am an elite jounin from an era where all genin were trained for war. Realistically, you three never even had a chance."

"However, you chose to put aside your differences and work together, and that is an attribute which Konoha shinobi are known for. Never think you're teammates just slow you down, never think you're friends and comrades are useless, but work together and you have a chance against even an overwhelming opponent."

Kakashi sighed and took the three (he told Sasuke to help Naruto up) and the three walked with Kakashi to a big stone.

"Isn't this the Memorial Stone?" Naruto asked once he regained his ability to move.

"Mm-hmm" Kakashi said. "All of Konoha's heroes who have proven themselves in war or especially perilous missions have their names carved here. My former teammate and sensei are here as well. That teammate used to say, "Those who don't follow the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends and comrades are even worse than trash.""

"With that in mind, the three of you… pass! Now, let us go have a nice, expensive meal at that new restaurant which just opened, bill's on me, don't worry, I have the money…"

Since then, the members of team one have been inseparable friends and friendly rivals.

It's said that fighting together can bring people together, and that's just what I did in this story. Well, what do you think? I decided to have Kakashi do the bell test, even though it's in every story, because I can't imagine him giving another test.

**End Chapter**

So… we have Senju Eiji, here, sole survivor of the Senju massacre. I didn't have the Uchihas massacred in this story, to, well, have variety! I initially thought Naruto and Sasuke would both become brooding avengers, but discarded that thought as I started penning down my ideas. Don't worry, people, Tsunade is alive and well, gambling her money away in some far away town.

I'd like to dedicate a future chapter eventually to Eiji's past, a flashback chapter, if you wish, but that's not until after the chuunin exams.

And here are some translations for the jutsu I used in this chapter:

"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu" Fire element – Great Fireball, same as in the manga.

"Katon: Hosenka" Fire Element – Mythical Fire Flower, same as in the manga

"Mokuton: Shibu Dangan" Wood Element – Branch Shot, the user first marks a tree branch with his chakra, and after performing the jutsu, that branch shoots itself at whatever the user is focusing his sight on at the time. It's relatively useless except in certain situations because the user has to keep his eyes on the target at all times, making him vulnerable to attacks.

"Doton: Doryuuheki" Earth element – Earth wall, same as in the manga

"Raiton: Chuubu Shougeki" Lightning Element – Paralysis Shock, the user hits the opponent, paralyzing him for a few minutes, enough to render them harmless. Kakashi copied this during the war with Cloud.


End file.
